The Commissioner for Environment in Abia State, Chief Solomon Ogunji, is dead.
This was made known, in a release issued by the State Commissioner for Information, John Okiyi Kalu, and made available to reporters in Umuahia, on Sunday.
Ogunji passed on Saturday at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, after a brief illness relating to High blood pressure.
However, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has expressed sadness and shock over the unfortunate death of the Commissioner.
The Governor condoled with the family of the bereaved, friends and well-wishers and prayed that the Almighty God will give the family of Dr Ogunji the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss and rest his soul in the bosom of the Lord.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ogunji was a senatorial aspirant in the 2019 general elections, seeking to represent Abia South on the platform of the PDP.
He was appointed special adviser to Ikpeazu on urban renewal in 2015 and later commissioner for environment in the previous administration.
Ogunji, who was a close political ally and confidant of the governor, was a member of the state’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on COVID-19.